* Holy Names-Oakland junior Sasha Wallace just made a huge state by blowing past state leader Traci Hicks, of Long Beach Poly, to win her 100 meters heat in 13.40 seconds, the second fastest time in the country heading into action today. Wallace is already the national leader in the triple jump. She took one jump and was the No. 1 qualifier at 41-7.

We’ll talk with her shortly.

* Kenneth Walker also made a statement in the hurdles for Kennedy-Richmond, recording the ninth-best 110 hurdles time in the country while winning his heat in a lifetime best of 13.80. He left the field by the second hurdle. Walker earlier led by Kennedy’s 400 relay team to the sixth best time of the day and into the finals with a time of 41.55 seconds, almost a half-second faster than it had qualified. Tom Jacobs, Lovell Stewart and Takkarist McKinley were other members.

* The largest statement made collectively as a group were the boys’ sprinters as San Leandro senior Andre McBride (10.52), Richmond junior McKinley (10.58) and Palo Alto junior EJ Floreal (10.64) all ran lifetime bests and qualified second, fourth and seventh, respectively.

* Not far behind as a group were the boys discus throwers, led by Lincoln senior Collin Luu who unleashed a remarkable throw of 175-6 to qualify seventh. Luu’s qualifying mark was 162-1, an improvement of more than 13 feet. Also advancing were St. Francis senior Cody Bickham (177-10, 5th) and Amador Valley-Pleasanton junior Matthew Esparza (171-10, 8th).

* Carlmont-Belmont senior Elliot Surovell absolutely obliterated his previous best in the 400, recording the second best time of the day at 47.73. Surovell’s previous best was 48.53 and his qualifying mark was 48.98.

QUALIFIED FOR FINALSIn alphabetical order, metro area track and field athletes/relay teams who Friday advanced (top 9) to Saturday’s state finals.